PLANNING TIPS

When planning the reception, take into consideration guests who may have special dietary needs (kosher, vegetarian, etc.).

When Planning Games, Remember Your Age Group

It is important when planning a party to focus on the ages of the invitees. What may seem like an extremely simple game to an adult could prove to be quite complicated to a small child. Remember that the simple, repetative games are often the most popular for kids because they are familiar with the routine and experience a high success rate. The party games should focus on enjoyment for the entire group and not only on providing competition for one or two winners.

Beverage Calculator

Include beverages in your party food planning. The amount of punch or number of cocktails or beers a guest will drink varies. Allow for the length of the party, the strength of the beverage, the day of the week, the rowdiness of the crowd, or lack thereof, and adjust your figure accordingly. The rules-of-thumb are:

Punch: Figure 10 people to the gallon-- pretty good mileage. That's a conservative estimate, assuming your guests will drink about three 4-ounce servings during the party.

Cocktails: Figure that your guests will consume 2 drinks per person per hour for the first 2 hours and 1 drink per person per hour after that.

Seating Arrangements At A Dinner Party

Planning dinner-party seating requires providing place cards or escort cards, seating the elderly and children near restrooms and grouping close family and friends together.

Graduation Party Favor Idea

Have a memory note station. Set up "note boxes" for each guest, and paper and pens to write notes to each other. The teens can write their memories of the other person down and stick it in their friend's box.

Reserve Your Rentals In Advance

Get everything on your rental "wish list" by reserving your rental equipment early, usually three months in advance of your celebration date. However, during the popular summer season, June brides should make reservations as early as six months ahead of time to ensure the availability of certain equipment.

When Planning Games, Remember Your Age Group

It is important when planning a party to focus on the ages of the invitees. What may seem like an extremely simple game to an adult could prove to be quite complicated to a small child. Remember that the simple, repetitive games are often the most popular for kids because they are familiar with the routine and experience a high success rate. The party games should focus on enjoyment for the entire group and not only on providing competition for one or two winners.